Why SMS is Vital for E-commerce Marketing in South-East Asia

The E-commerce business gets the best communication value from basic SMS. In this article, we will know the importance of SMS in E-commerce marketing plans, and how you can successfully get the value.

The consumer of today makes the on-demand habit which expects faster outcomes and instant move. The customer command for speed in all areas, right from customer service, information, and delivery of notices.

Currently, most businesses are slowly unearthing that it’s just a simple SMS which provides the best value for e-commerce marketing. Here are the reasons:

1. Promotes Business Processes by incorporating SMS

Because of the short messaging method, customers no longer await some personal touch from an e-commerce marketing SMS. However, you can combine your messaging method to your systems and processes, then let it operate robotically.

As a result, eCommerce stores might incur high costs if deliveries are missed. The amount of money you will lose is directly proportional to the deliveries you will miss. Also, your drivers can automatically send out delivery SMS reminders to clients’ after reaching their destinations. This is essential specifically if you offer cash on delivery service. So, a missed delivery results to loss of business, as well as wasted trip. All these come with costs which will affect your business.

On the other hand, you might send a one-time password(OTP) to new account holders through an SMS. Indeed, the instance that comes with the SMS increases the chances of the recipients responding, and going on with the buying process.

SMS is by far more productive compared to email if you can attain the immediate attention of a customer.

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2. Encounter Nearly Complete Market Entry

In comparison to other marketing means, SMS provides nearly complete entry. According to a study by wearesocial, the findings were that the fourth quarter of 2015 mobile connections in South-east Asia equaled 776.3Million, thus averaging to 1.24 cellular connection per person.

Similarly, here is a comparison between the internet and social media. The internet market penetration was only 40%, with active users being approximately 252million. On the other hand, the market penetration of social media was 37%, with active social media users being 232million.

The variation in the market entry is much more significant for individual countries with minimal levels of internet access. For example, in Myanmar, the internet connection is equivalent to 9% of its population, while mobile owners are 56%. Also, Timor-Leste country has an internet connection that is equivalent to 1% of its population, while the mobile market entry is 71%.

Unlike the email, nearly every SMS sent out gets opened and read. The findings of Oracle are that the rate of opening SMS was an average of 99%, a figure that is nearly five times that of initial emails, 22%. Furthermore, Oracle found out that the SMS user response time was 2,400X faster than email. The average user responds to a text message within a span of 90 seconds. On the contrary, responding to an email takes an average of two and two and a half days.

Statistics show that it’s just 1% of SMS that gets taken as a spam, in comparison to email messages with 90%. So, users expect that an SMS is either private or helpful. Also, you have lesser competition for e-commerce marketing when using SMS in your marketing plan. As per research, in 2015, the average user got 7x fewer text messages compared to emails in every month of that year.

Final Thought

SMS is essential in your marketing strategy, but you should ensure your messaging service is scalable and dependable. Also, the service should be well positioned to provide high volume all over the world, so as to empower your business, ensuring SMS delivery is faster and accurate.